HOW TO GET YOUR HOUSE READY FOR AN IN-HOME PHOTOGRAPHY SESSION

You’ve booked your in-home session. Yay! (You know they’re my fave). Now, how do you get your house ready for your in-home photography session?

Listen – there’s really not much you need to do. Your house – just as it is – is part of your story and when I arrive, I’ll be there to capture you living in it. To help make sure you love your photos, though, I do have some advice on how to get your house ready. It’s pretty short and sweet …

Clear Clutter

My camera will not see dust on the dresser, but it will see the piles of things you’ve left there to keep things within easy reach. Which is OK with me if it’s OK with you. But if it’s NOT OK with you, you may want to spend a few minutes clearing that type of stuff away. I tell people to spend a few minutes walking around the house before I come with new eyes – if what you see will bug you if it shows up in your photos, stash it away somewhere out of sight. The kinds of things that miiiight do better under the bed or in a closet? Tissue boxes, water bottles, digital alarm clocks and phone chargers, piles of bills, dish draining racks, diaper genies, boxes of things you’ve been meaning to bring to UPS … you get the idea. Don’t go crazy, though — to a certain extent, your home is part of your story and in addition to closer-up photos that eliminate backgrounds, we’ll be telling that whole story with wide angle shots that will zap you right back to the way you feel in your home right now. The trick is making sure you’re comfortable with the story we tell. If we think through and strike that balance ahead of time, your house will be ready for your session.

But Listen – Don’t Feel Judged!

Even if you’re a total minimalist, there will likely be a point in your session when I jump out of my squatting position to move something — a lamp that’s growing out of somebody’s head or a coffee cup you’ve just been sipping out of or something like that. I do this all the time and it does NOT mean you’ve done a bad job in on the item above.

Turn Off All the Lights and Open Up all the Shades/Curtains

I use only natural light in my photos, so help me get as much of that as possible. I can do this when I arrive, but you’ll save me from fiddling with switches and cords if you do it before I arrive.

And ….. that’s pretty much it!

We’ll talk in person about what the flow of the session will be (will we be in all the rooms? Might I move some things around? Is it possible I’ll jump up on a chair or bed to get a better angle?) but you don’t need to think about that now.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for looking,

~Jaye

PS This is just one item on a longer list of things you and I will talk about at some point before your session to make sure that the session itself is as easy, relaxing, fun and successful as possible. (I call it “The Talk”)